Virgin Atlantic is joining other airlines who are suspending services to China due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 at Heathrow Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The airline operates Flight VS250 to Shanghai will depart on Friday 31st January and the final inbound flight will be VS251 on Saturday 1st February. After this, the service will be suspended for 14 days.
The London – Hong Kong operation will continue to operate in the meantime.
According to Virgin Atlantic, the “This decision has been made with the safety of customers and staff at the front of our minds”
Virgin is allowing the following rebooking and changes for travel dates between 22 Jan 2020-30 Apr 2020, covering Virgin Atlantic flights and codeshare flights to/from/through China, including Hong Kong. Travel can be rebooked until 31st May 2002.
Joining other airlines
The list of airlines suspending services to China continues to grow, with Air India, Air France American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, Egyptair, Finnair, KLM, Iberia, Lufthansa Group and Royal Air Maroc (amongst others).
Other airlines are reducing services to the Greater China area – and thus you should check before you travel (if you travel is essential).
Follow the Travel Advice out there.
If your travel isn’t essential, you should be considering changing your travel plans (following advice from UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice or US Department of State Travel Advice). As usual, please check with your governmental agency who will give you up-to-date advice on the travel situation, as well as reputal news sources out there.
Airlines are being more than flexible at the moment with changes that you can make with your bookings (as well as refunds) – so those of you with redemption bookings should be safe to change too.
For now, being safe rather than sorry is the matra here.
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